Interdimensional Portal
The Interdimensional Portal, also known as the Universe Portal or just the Portal, is a machine designed to serve as a gateway between one dimension to another. Variants of the device have been developed by various groups and people for centuries under the guidance of Bill Cipher, with the belief it will fulfill goals he promised them. In reality, it is merely a tool he has unsuspecting individuals create that in reality will allow him to enter their dimension and take it over. The most well known, last and only successful version of the portal was hidden away in Ford Pines' underground laboratory.
History[]
When Bill Cipher realized that the Nightmare Realm was heading towards destruction with the edge of reality slowly on its way to destroy it, he began looking for a new dimension to call home. After defeating Time Baby in the one dimension that was most susceptible to conquest, Bill began to work on finding someone who could open a gateway between his world and it in order to allow him to enter and begin his rein of terror.
Discovering the Gravity Falls valley had everything needed to build his portal (due to a UFO crashing their prior), Bill began searching for someone there who could develop his portal. He would have many attempts.
The Shaman Portal[]
The first attempt to develop a portal began with a Shaman in his tribe who began to help him construct a portal. Eventually, he got a vision of just what Bill was planning and backed out. The Shaman burned the redwood portal he was was building to the ground, evacuated his tribe, and banned Bill from the valley by cursing him and the area under a prophecy with "ten cosmic symbols aligned in perfect harmony" to bear witness to his defeat. Banished from Gravity Falls, Bill began to search for someone else to develop his portal elsewhere.
Easter Island Heads working on a portal for Bill
Ancient Society Portals Attempts[]
Ancient Egypt[]
One of Bill's other attempts at a portal was in ancient Egypt with a pharaoh. Instead, the pharaoh became obsessed with him and tried to have him banished through rituals that Bill would repay with "flirty plagues." Eventually, after revealing he didn't know how to build a portal, he instead agrees to put his face on the pyramids instead, with Bill claiming no aliens were involved in making them.
The Aztecs[]
Bill proposed to the Aztecs to build him a portal out of sacrificed human hearts. 9000 hearts later it turned out there were limitations to building portals out of them. While a failure, Bill did admire the dedication.
Easter Island[]
Bill even tried to get the heads on Easter Island to build his portal, which didn't go well at all. They tried their best but didn't have fingers, making the work impossible.
Ye Portal
The Dark Ages Portal[]
During the Dark ages, Bill Cipher came in contact with a wizard he hoped would help build his portal; Xgqrthx the Unpronounceable. Seeing he was another emotionally challenged individual longing for a friend like the Shaman, Bill cut him a deal where if he could build him his portal, they'd rule together. However, the amulet needed to power it was locked in a treasury of the king's. He agreed if Bill could retrieve it. Although successful in getting it, Xgqrthx betrayed Bill and encircled the portal in unicorn hair to trap him in an orb to create a new trick by which to try and impress his ex. Being forced to dance for the king, Bill's rage was enough that it melted the glass and he broke free. Although Xgqrthx tried to apologize and plead with him, Bill destroyed the whole place and cursed everyone in the time period for 100 years with nightmares. However, he went too far and caused Europe to become paranoid with a full blown "Bill Panic." Being left banned from most of the Eastern Hemisphere, Bill decided to return to America to try and get his portal built there.
American Portal Attempts[]
New England[]
Coming to New England initially to build a portal, Bill instead, after seeing the suffering at the hands of puritans, gave some of the housewives instead occult spells and helped spark a witches rebellion in 1692, all while disguised as a goat.
Founding Fathers[]
Bill offered the founding fathers a deal that he'd help them defeat the British if he secretly could run the government. They rejected the idea after his first draft of the constitutions instead stated for there to be Anarchy.
The Anti Cipher Society[]
The 1901 Portal Design
In 1901, copywriter Thurburt Mudget Waxstaff III was struggling to develop a slogan for "Whitman's Wax and Horse-Calming Tonic." When Bill Cipher offered to help him create one, he was eager to accept his help. After it proved successful and he attained the American Dream by marrying his boss's wife, Waxstaff would again be contacted by Bill, who demanded a favor in return; Invest in the creation of an a portal. However, Waxstaff was unable to build it as the machinery needed was impossible. which incurred the wrath of Bill and and caused him to suffer a series of terrible nightmares. Desperate for a solution, Waxstaff put out an ad in the newspaper to find others who had been contacted by Bill. After meeting and seeing Bill's powers, they formed a society dedicated to destroying Bill. Despite some attempts to defeat him, The Anti-Cipher Society was disbanded shortly after they were declared a laughingstock at the 1901 Inventioneers fair. Waxstaff was committed to an insane asylum while another member moved out west, presumably marrying to a Northwest. This failure made Bill realize reaching out to humans one-on-one was not going to cut it and he had to find a new way to get to them.
20th Century Portal Attempts[]
Cartoons[]
Bill moved to trying to convince people to help him through messaging them in cartoons. Working with Elias Inkwell in 1930, he produced a cartoon called Cipher Symphonies to do this. The plan went wrong though as people hated the show and Elias put a bounty on Bill's head, banishing him by developing a song that he could not stand and putting the show into their vault for the world to never see again.
Area 51[]
In the 1940s, Bill began looking at nuclear test ranges to see if the radiation from the blasts would open a hole to his dimension. It worked until he was caught but managed to escape.
The Maniacintoh Ciphervision 1000
The Swingin' Years[]
Using music, Bill tried to convince people to help him build his portal by hiding his message in hit songs. However, every band he started to get this done was a flop. Eventually, all songs and refences to him were banned, except for "preachy hillbilly slop" that barely sold.
The 1980s[]
Striking a deal with some nerds, Bill developed a computer that was capable of mass hypnosis. However, the code it was written in kept causing programmers to jump off bridges and the prototype was recalled after a kid lost a finger to it. Called the "Maniacintoh Ciphervision 1000," some still survive with likely them being in attics.
The Tri-Angels Collection[]
One of Bill's final attempts at a portal as he was running out of ideas, occurred in the 1990s when he created a line of collectable figurines that he hoped could brainwash a bunch of grandmas into crocheting him a portal. While it didn't work either, this would be Bill's last known attempt before one of his plans in the 1980s ended up becoming successful.
News article from BillVille about the nearly complete portal
Ciphertology[]
One of Bill's more sinister plans occurred in the 1950s when he took over the body of a dead conman and started a religion around himself. The plan was to use the folks of a town he brainwashed to develop his portal. The plan was nearly successful until intervention from the government and one unconverted town resident lead to his defeat, the cult's disbandment and erasing of the town off all maps.
The Finterdorsmentional Porptal
The Atlantis Portal?[]
At an unknown point in time, Bill tried his 47th attempt at building a portal with the help of dolphins. It didn't go so well as he states...
"I should have known better than to try advanced construction with a species that didnt have opposable thumbs! The “Finterdorsmentional Porptal” was as hard to use as it was to say out loud. No wonder these tuna-net-bound squeaky toys didn’t become the dominant species. Learn to operate a hammer, then we’ll talk!"
The Final Portal[]
Bill was beginning to feel like his bet on Earth was not a good call. Every human partner he had either double-crossed him, gone crazy, or melted from portal radiation. He was about to give up when he felt a shiver that made him laugh to the point every radar dish on Earth picked it him. Someone had broken the Shaman's curse and summoned him back to where it all began; Gravity Falls. It turned out to be both a genius and an idiot; Stanford Pines!
Paying his mind a visit, Bill realized he was the perfect partner with his insecurities and isolation from anyone who could deter him. With an IQ strong enough to develop the portal but wasting it away on collecting moths but dumb enough to not heed the Shaman's warnings which he determined were a trick to keep him away from people he could use, Bill now had the perfect human to complete his goal and develop what would be the last portal.
Background[]
The completed blueprint.
The key to starting the machine is a complex algorithm that can only be completed by owning all three of the Journals. Stan Pines searched for 2 and 3 for thirty years.
During his studies on the anomalies of Gravity Falls, Ford Pines theorized that the source of it all was a dimension of weirdness that leaked into the Earth. Deciding to investigate this dimension, Ford eventually hit a dead end. He soon after encountered Bill Cipher, who gave Ford the means to build the Portal alongside his associate Fiddleford McGucket. Ford used technology salvaged from a UFO buried under the town to provide the parts for the Portal. Ford believed the Portal's purpose was to break the boundaries between worlds, but Bill intended for it to merge his realm with Earth. During the initial test run, McGucket was almost sucked in, and after being pulled out by Ford, began to speak in gibberish and says the strange prophecy; "When gravity falls and earth becomes sky, fear the beast with just one eye." Regaining his senses, McGucket realized that the Portal could destroy the world and begged the Author to take it down. When Ford refused, McGucket left to forget what he had seen.
Eventually, Ford realized that he was in over his head and that McGucket's warnings were right. Confronting Bill, he learned the truth and decided to shut down the Portal, and ensure it could never be activated again. Hiding Journals 2 and 3, he called his brother Stan to Gravity Falls to take Journal 1 and hide it somewhere on the other side of the planet. However, Stan was outraged over Ford's apparent indisposition to reconcile with him and the two began to fight. During the struggle, the Portal activated, and pulled Ford in. Stan would spend the next thirty years trying to reactivate it and bring his brother back.
Season 1[]
At the end of "Gideon Rises," after Dipper and Mabel Pines defeat Gideon Gleeful's giant robot, Stan secretly steals Journal 2 from Gideon while exposing him as a fraud. Later, Dipper reveals to Stan that he owns Journal 3 and Stan confiscates it on the pretense that "fantasy books" such as those were making Dipper's imagination run wild.
Stan then takes the two books into the lab under the Shack, and aligns their respective pages on the portal with Journal 1's. He inputs the combined data gathered from them into a large machine. This starts to finally reactivate the portal, as Stan runs in front of it to pull a lever, causing it to fully illuminate. Stan was very glad about this as he knew finally going to bring his brother back.
Season 2[]
"Scary-oke" continues immediately where Season 1 ended, with Stan now performing a lengthy auto scan on the portal across a multitude of dimensions. He then pulls a lever labeled "max power," causing the portal to grow brighter then before, illuminating a large portion of Gravity Falls and being detected by the U.S. Government.
At the end credits of "Society of the Blind Eye," Stan is shown supplying the portal with nuclear waste as its gateway grows stronger and starts pulling things into it.
In "Not What He Seems," the portal slowly starts to lose its stability, causing anomalies that result in the Earth briefly losing its gravitational pull. It is then revealed towards the end of the episode that, when fully functional, the portal could result in a universal catastrophe, resulting in the destruction of everything. After Mabel decides to trust Stan's word and let the timer reach zero, the portal explodes with tremendous force, seemingly obliterating everything around it. However, the energy given off from it settles before any damage occurs. The explosion results in most of the portal being destroyed, save for the still-functional main centerpiece, where Ford is able to walk out and return back to his own dimension.
The portal once activated.
In "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons," Ford shows Dipper that he dismantled the portal because an inter-dimensional gateway is too dangerous for the world it feeds into, even though he said it was his life's work. In addition, the instability of the machine when Stan reactivated it created an interdimensional rift. Although Ford understood that Stan did it to save him (and it worked), this is what his warnings in the journals meant. The rift is extremely dangerous, so he asks Dipper to keep this secret from everyone he knows.
In "The Last Mabelcorn," the broken gateway is seen at the Nightmare Realm in Ford's dream and when Bill saying to Ford that he thinks to shut down the portal can stop what he have planned, he'd been making deals, chatting with old friends, and preparing for a big day. He tells Ford that he can't keep the rift safe forever. Bill snapped his fingers when he have another rift in the Nightmare Realm and breaks it, and then leaves through the portal when he says to Ford, "things change".
In "Weirdmageddon Part 1," Bill mentions to his friends that Ford was the creator of portal and that he was the reason all of Weirdmageddon was possible.
In "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls," when McGucket has everyone turn the Mystery Shack into the Shacktron, the portal can be seen on the midsection of the mech, patched back together.
Function[]
Originally the machine was built to potentially benefit all of mankind, but something went wrong.[1] Dipper gathered from the section of the portal page in Journal #3 that it is some kind of strange, futuristic, super weapon. Gideon believed it would lead to a gateway of unimaginable power.[2] The Cryptogram written on the page describes it as a portal that opens a gateway to infinite new worlds.
Progress to activate the Portal[]
In "Gideon Rises," Stan had collected all the Journals and combined them to reveal the program code. He then inputted them through the switches and buttons of the control console to make the Portal run.
In "Scary-oke," Grunkle Stan scans for the location of the Author through a multitude of sectors. A lot of code is visible running on the screen of the machine, and the portal emits laser rays while various sections of the center ring begin to change color.
In "Society of the Blind Eye," Stan is fueling the Portal with radioactive waste while the scanning continues. Three sections of the center ring now begin to change color at a time, while the Portal pulls multiple objects into it.
In "Not What He Seems," the center of the Portal ring has lit up entirely in various colors. After Stan hits a button to finally activate it, the center ring begins to spin in order to punch a hole through dimensions so that Ford could come home.
| “ | The portal when completed will open a gateway to infinite new worlds and herald a new era in mankind's understanding of the universe. Plus, it will probably get girls to start talking to me finally. | ” |
However, according to calculations by a young McGucket, the more time that passes the more unstable the portal becomes, and the probability of failure increases dramatically.[1] If necessary there is an emergency shutdown switch to the right of the portal.
When all three journals are placed together, the following is written in invisible ink:
The machine was meant to create knowledge but it is too powerful! The device, if fully operational could tear our universe apart! I was wrong the whole time! It must not fall into the wrong hands. If the clock ever reaches zero our universe is doomed! Total global destruction!
Beyond the portal[]
Bill with an evil martini.
The portal leads to infinite dimensions, though it is always set to lead to the Nightmare Realm. The only way to make it lead elsewhere is with a Dimensional Vortex Neutralizer, which was only ever created in a parallel world.
Appearance[]
The portal with the Behenian fixed stars denoted.
Each portal developed varyed in design and material used but maintained the same main look; triangular shaped with a circle opening. Some were made of stone while others of dark magic and steel.
With the Stanford Portal, the main section is a large, inverted metal triangle with lights dotting along its edge. There is a large hole in the center and symbols encircling the hole. The symbols represent the Behenian fixed stars, which are a selection of fifteen stars considered especially useful for magical applications in medieval astrology. The bottom tip of the triangle is connected to a base with many large thick cords.
Most of the portal's infrastructure was destroyed in the blast when its countdown clock reached zero. The only part left intact was the main portal itself. The symbols for Spica, Arcturus, Vega, Sirus, and Polaris stay lit. After this, it was dismantled, leaving only non-functional pieces.
Sightings[]
Season 1
- 120. "Gideon Rises"
Season 2
- 201. "Scary-oke"
- 204. "Sock Opera" (pictured)
- 207. "Society of the Blind Eye"
- 211. "Not What He Seems"
- 212. "A Tale of Two Stans"
- 213. "Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons"
- 215. "The Last Mabelcorn" (flashback)
- 217. "Dipper and Mabel vs. the Future" (mentioned)
- 218. "Weirdmageddon 1: Xpcveaoqfoxso" (mentioned)
- 220-221. "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls"
Trivia[]
- Once activated, anomalies occur in close proximity, causing periods of zero gravity and, briefly, even anti-gravity.
- If unstable enough, it creates rips in the universe.
- Each of the stars have meanings, such as Sirius being the dog star.
- It is used as part of the Shacktron in "Weirdmageddon 3: Take Back The Falls."
- When the pen, coffee cup and notebook fly through the portal in the credits of "Society of the Blind Eye," they reappear flying through a random portal in the Rick and Morty episode "Close Rick-counters Of The Rick Kind." This suggests a possible connection between the two franchises through them existing within the same multiverse, and is further supported by several other Easter eggs.
- Bill Cipher has made at least 47 or more attempts at developing the portal.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Society of the Blind Eye." Matt Chapman, Alex Hirsch (writers) & Sunil Hall (director). Gravity Falls. Disney XD. October 27, 2014. No. 7, season 2.
- ↑ "Gideon Rises." Matt Chapman, Michael Rianda, Alex Hirsch (writers) & John Aoshima, Joe Pitt (directors). Gravity Falls. Disney Channel. August 2, 2013. No. 20, season 1.